This invention is in the field of mass storage devices for use with computers and computer networks. More particularly it relates to mass storage devices directly coupled to computer networks.
The Internet, a collection of publicly accessibly computer networks, and Intranets, collections of privately accessibly business computer networks, are known. Both have witnessed explosive growth in the last few years. In 1996, the number of users of the Internet was estimated to be doubling every two months. This explosive growth has fueled an equally explosive demand for mass storage devices capable of supporting both Internet and Intranet applications.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a common architecture for supporting Internet/intranet operations. Individual clients 1 using either personal computers or workstations are coupled through a network 3 to one or more servers 5. Each server is typically a general purpose computer, which computer uses either the Unix or Windows NT operating system. The server in turn is coupled to a plurality of mass storage devices 7, which may include hard disk drives (xe2x80x9cHDDxe2x80x9ds), archival tape storage devices, here shown as Digital Linear Tape drives, or any other known form of mass storage devices.
This architecture has several disadvantage. All data must travel through a general purposes server before it can be sent to a client from a data storage device or written to a data storage device from a client, which slows data transfer. The client/server architecture is also expensive to purchase and to maintain. Scaling this architecture requires adding both additional processors and additional memory. Installation of either memory or processors is almost never a straightforward process and any upgrades of the system require that the servers be shut down.
As these disadvantages of the client/server architecture are known, attempts have been made either to correct or simply avoid them. One commercially available product is a thin file server through which storage devices are connected for direct network attached access via Unix or Windows clients. The file server/controller couples disk drives and RAID arrays to a network, without the need for a server. Although this device allows for some improvement on the known client/server architecture, it still requires both a separate controller and a storage device. The controller itself also requires a full 3.5xe2x80x3 disk drive bay for installation. Thus, the combination of the file server/controller and a storage device requires at least two bays in either a rack-mounted configuration or two of the internal bays found in most personal computers and network servers.
The meridian Data System Inc. Snap! Server incorporates an HDD with a network controller card into a single unit. However, the device""s controller card uses an X86 microprocessor, which is expensive, uses more power than desirable in this application, and is somewhat slower in operation than other commercially available microprocessors.
The controller card and HDD are not well integrated, the package itself is large and a xe2x80x9cYxe2x80x9d-connector cord is required to provide power to both the controller card and the HDD.
A first embodiment of the present invention is a single device combining a HDD and a network controller card. The combination, hereinafter called a network storage device, can be coupled to network, which networks operate using standard Ethernet protocols. The network storage device has an extremely small form factor which fits into a standard disk drive storage bay (4xe2x80x3xc3x975.75xe2x80x3xc3x971.625xe2x80x3 or 1.0xe2x80x3). Two embodiment of the network storage device are described herein. A first embodiment comprises a network controller card and a HDD, integrated together as a single package. A plurality of units of this first embodiment could then be rack-mounted and collectively powered from a single source of DC power and provided with individual network connections. In a second embodiment, the network controller card, one or more HDDs, and power supply are integrated within a housing and the housed, finished unit requires only a network connection and an AC power source connection.
This combination of storage device and network controller device offers many advantages. A single package of small size can supply the functionality of two separate devices, the single device having lower overall power consumption and smaller physical footprint, typically within the form factor of a standard HDD. Internal power connection is simplified, with a single external power input to the network controller card which in turn provides power to the HDD. The combination is also less expensive than the separate controller unit and storage device shown by the prior art.